Sara Kyle, Ph.D. has spent the last 13 years researching, designing, writing, and implementing resident well-being programs across the continuum of care. From leading and overseeing programming across 108 skilled nursing, assisted living and memory care communities to leading the charge for Holiday Retirement to transform their resident program in 260 communities, Kyle thrives in challenging settings. She is relentless when it comes to urging individual point solutions to integrate and share resident data in one location. While best intentions and knowledge at the corporate level craft well-suited programs, the most effective programs originate from research and collaboration with residents, staff, families, and prospects.
When staff and residents are involved in creating a program or approach, interest, adoption and sustainability are remarkably higher. Successful programming is not just about a satisfaction score, rather quality of life beyond the basics of food, shelter, and an expected level of care. If data collection is aimed to note participation of categorized activities, this is only one piece of the puzzle behind effectively measuring engagement.
Kyle is widely known and respected in the industry. She presents at national conferences, pens articles in notable publications, and serves on various advisory boards. She is fervent and highly skilled at building morale, delivering education, and bridging the gap between the executive team, community management staff and care partners when it comes to who is responsible for resident programming.